Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) networks are often utilized as a metro technology due at least in part on protection and fault tolerance properties. However, some metro networking technologies exhibit several limitations. For example, in a Synchronous Optical Networking-type (SONET) ring, individual nodes may be granted with a minimum fair share; however, it may not be possible to reclaim the unused bandwidth. Moreover, a percentage of the potentially available bandwidth may be reserved for protection, thus potentially resulting in poor utilization. On the other hand, a Gigabit Ethernet-type ring may result in full statistical multiplexing at the expense of fairness. RPR networks may be utilized to mitigate the respective underutilization and unfairness problems associated with the current SONET-type ring and Ethernet-type ring technologies.